


A Beautiful End

by Melodi_Maizono



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Character Study, Gambling, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melodi_Maizono/pseuds/Melodi_Maizono
Summary: Celestia has always wanted a beautiful end. She never wanted to give up her pride and ambition, so she had to kill.Now, looking back on her past, she wished she listened.
Kudos: 8





	A Beautiful End

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is more experimental than anything, but I wanted to try it out. Celeste's backstory is barely shown, so I wanted to try to make my own interpretation of it.

We all walk along an endless road.

We all wait, and wait, and wait… but there never is an end waiting for you. There never is an ounce of destiny in this cruel reality. For most, there is no end. There is only death. Despite all of this… I managed to make my own ending. I managed to fabricate a beautiful end for myself.

All my life, I was pushed to the side. I cried and I bled, crawling along the streets, awaiting no end. I only awaited death, just so I can look for the next life meant for my wandering soul. However, in some miracle… I was born lucky. Not the type of endless fortune one would expect, but rather death coming very close to me, but not reaching me. When I nearly starved, I managed to come across a meal left on a restaurant table. When the rain was about to pull me down from its cold touch, I managed to come across an umbrella that probably blew away from somebody else. No matter what… I always managed to adapt, and I always managed to survive.

So that’s why I became a gambler.

The first match I had put myself into was a deadly one… at least that is what it seemed like then. Unbeknownst to me, I would come across death a million more times. 

“Do you even know how to play, little girl?” A man with white hair said, looking down at me. His narrow eyes would pierce into any normal person’s soul, but with me, I felt nothing. I had nothing to lose but my life, after all, and to me, I had nothing to live for anyways.

“No.” I answered, staring at him without a care in the world. Normally, he would have yelled at me, or worse… but he saw something in me. With a chuckle, he held his hand out, with a game piece resting in his palm.

“Haha! I see potential in you… you challenge me with a straight face, fearing nothing. You’d make for a good challenge if you knew how to play.” He laughed, a smirk on his face as he narrowed his eyes at me even more. He raised his hand into the air, and lowered it even quicker, seeming to be aiming at me. With a quick sigh, I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain.

However, a few moments passed by, and I only felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, and was met with a… genuine smile. It wasn’t a prideful smirk or fake grin, but a real smile, the corners of the man’s lips raised high.

“Oh, did I scare you? I’m not that cruel, kid! Let me make a suggestion… you join me in these matches. The opponents might get a little distracted by an emotionless kid, y’know!” The main laughed, pride in his expression once again. He seemed to soften at times, but not for long. 

“What’s in it for me?” I asked. It would be foolish to take his offer that early, even if I had nothing to lose.

“Exactly as expected… you’re a smart kid.” The main said. He stood up, and walked towards a nearby mirror. He started messing with his red tie, making sure it looked as neat with the dark suit he wore. He then turned his head towards me, and smiled. “I’ll teach you everything I know… this man is getting old, so he needs a young soul to help him win in life. Life is a game, you know… and we all need to adapt one way or another, or we lose the game, and die.”

“So, you’re going to teach me to adapt?” I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

“Yes, but we need to give you a name… we all need to be set apart from our true selves in order to detach, and truly adapt.” The man responded, tapping his chin.

“What would your suggestion be? My name is Taeko.” I responded, staring straight into his vividly red eyes.

“Taeko is much too common of a name, ha! Let’s give you a non-japanese name, something to make you stand out. Your hair is dark, and your demeanor can be foreboding… So what if we name you Celestial? A connection to the night sounds nice!” The man started laughing again, having fun at his own humor-filled name. I did something he didn’t expect, though.

“I like the name… but call me Celeste.”

After a bit more talking, I agreed to help the man in his pursuits. He brought me to each gambling match, and every time, we came up with a different strategy for each opponent. Each movement of the wrist, each side glance of the eyes, and each sweatdrop along the forehead… we accounted for each and every expression.

“How did you…? This is ridiculous! A scam!” A woman yelled at us, looking at the board where none of her pieces remained. She had her grip on the table, and her fingers were shaking violently as she groaned on and on. “I was able to plan every move… how could you have known?!”

“In the first turn, you held one hand at your side, and you barely looked at the board. It indicated your prideful actions, so we did something completely unexpected. In the third turn, you lost your sense of composure, so I believe we made a turn you didn’t take into account.” I explained, staring at the woman while she screamed. “From then on, it was child’s play.”

“That’s Celeste for you.” The man said, smiling with narrowed eyes at the woman. 

“That girl is a demon! You made a deal with a monster!” The woman screamed, raising a fist towards my face. I had no reaction.

“How dare-” I was about to respond in anger, but the white-haired man spoke up before I could finish.

“I guess my deal with a demon worked, then. You lost all your life savings, right?” The man smirked, looking at the board while taking back his own pieces. 

“No! Y-you, you made a d-deal! You cheated!” The woman screamed, charging towards the man with her hands aiming towards his neck. Before she could take him out, however, the guards in the room took her away. The man leaned back in his chair and sighed in relief, the grin on his face still present... always the same grin.

“You really helped me there, Celeste… but you should practice on your own emotions more!” The man suggested, turning his head towards me.

“My own emotions…?” I asked, tilting my head.

“With this mask of yours, you are perfect at being neutral… but neutrality can’t always win.” The man explained, putting his hands on his knees. “I’ve seen you get angry, like just now… neutrality is good, but it’s better to be able to fake every emotion. It can deceive the opponent even more.”

“Deceive…? I thought I was meant to work with you to distract the opponent.” I questioned. Little did I know, that one question would lead to a spiral of bad events.

The man never answered my questions, but gave me advice instead. For months upon months, he taught me how to smile, and what tales to tell others. He helped me elaborate on my false past, and he gave me my own likes and dislikes. Day by day, I was getting away from the common loser known as Taeko… and was slowly becoming Celeste, just like he wanted. However, everything changed on my fifteenth birthday.

“Hey, Celeste, your birthday is in November, right?” The man asked one day, the same grin on his face as always, with a curious look towards the ceiling.

“Yes. I do not celebrate it that much, though. Birthdays can be a waste of time. Practice is much more important.” I responded, a small giggle in my voice near the end. Over the past few years, I had not celebrated my birthday, so his question made me suspicious. “Why do you ask?”

“Not much… I just thought that it’d be nice to celebrate it somehow. You’re a cunning girl, y’know… but you’re a kid too.” He said, his smile becoming genuine once again. His usual grin, and his real smile might seem the same to normal people… but I could tell the difference.

“I have no need to celebrate it.” I answered, twirling my hair with a careless look to the side.

“Fine, fine… but I do have something anyways.” He said, back to his false grin. I was about to ask what was disappointing him, but before I could, he left the room. I tilted my head in confusion, but when he came back…

“A cat…?” I asked, my eyes widening as I stared at the grey kitten in his palms, a frilly collar around its neck.

“I thought he’d be a nice addition to our duo… he is the most expensive cat I could find.” The man asked, a proud smirk on his face once again. He let down the kitten, and it walked towards me. Before I knew it, I was in love. “His name is Grand Bois Cheri… but you could change his name if you want.”

“Why would I? The name is magnificent.” I replied, a bright smile on my face. The kitten came closer to my feet, and I stroked its fur a few times before looking back up at the white-haired man.

“It’s just th… that… I…” His words started out with the same energy as always, but it quickly worsened, with stuttering and coughing. A gasp followed my realization, and I ran to his side. Before I knew it… I knew the answer to the question I asked long ago.

He knew we wouldn’t be able to work together for much longer. He was old in age, and… at the time, he likely only had a few more months left to live. The last time I saw him was a day before his death, and he personally called me to visit him.

“Celeste… you know it now, right?” The same fake grin rested on his face. He knew I could see through it… but he still held it. Why?

“Yes, you are close to death, aren’t you…?” I said, not wanting to face the truth. I had difficulty looking at him in the eyes.

“That doesn’t matter now. I… just wanted to apologize.” Those words made my eyes widen, and I looked toward him in a moment. I raised my brows with concern, but he still continued. “I wasn’t able to accomplish our dream.”

“No… that doesn’t matter now. I-” I tried to argue against him, but he coughed before I could finish. He closed his eyes, and finally put off the false smile. Why? Why did he want to suffer here? Why couldn’t he just tell me the truth?

“There isn’t enough money for a perfect home yet, but I hope you can use what I taught you, kid.” The white-haired man said again. I couldn’t manage to say anything, but he still continued on. “To be honest, when I saw you at that tournament six years ago… I thought I could just use you. Little did I know, I’d find somebody I could care about like a daughter.”

“No… please…” I couldn’t say anything more than that. My hands were shaking, and it felt like the air around me was frozen. Why did he have to tell me this now, when he was so close to death? Why? Why did he have to lie to me like this? “Stop lying…”

“Please leave, Celeste. Succeed where I couldn’t. Don’t just survive, okay? Thrive. Don’t let this be your end.” Those words were the last he said to me. In a fit of rage, I ran out of the hospital room. In a fit of rage, I made the most terrible mistake.

The next day, he died. Nobody attended his funeral, and in future tournaments, everybody mocked his death. They said he deserved it. They said he died because of me. They said so many awful things… but I didn’t deserve it. I never deserved it. I didn’t make a single mistake, and I deserved better than anything they had.

Now I stood at the fire, flames burning my skin bit by bit. The flames grew closer and closer, and I could feel the warmth all around me.

I didn’t listen to him.

I should have listened to him.

This execution was my punishment for lying to myself.

I hoped to make a beautiful end for myself, but I didn’t. In the end, it was only death. In the end, it was only suffering.

The firetruck came closer.

This never could have been a beautiful end.


End file.
